The present invention relates to an apparatus for orienting a patient on a patient-support device, such as a hospital bed. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to an apparatus for pulling a patient toward a head end of a patient support device.
Some patient-support devices, such as hospital beds, stretchers, surgical tables, and the like, have mechanisms for articulating, raising, lowering, and/or tilting a patient-support portion of the device relative to a base of the device. When a head section of the patient-support portion of the device is raised to move the patient from a supine position to a sitting position, it is not uncommon for the patient to slide down the head section and move toward a foot end of the device. Thus, the patient may be shifted too far toward the foot end of the patient-support device when the head section is lowered back down to return the patient to the supine position. Some prior art devices, such as those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,608,929 and 5,280,657 and those shown in U.S. patent application Publications Nos. 2002/0083521 A1 and 2002/083522 A1, include mechanisms for pulling a patient toward the head end of a hospital bed.